updated 12:40 pm EDT, Wed May 25, 2011

Twitter and TweetDeck deal to keep app

Twitter on Wednesday discussed its buyout of TweetDeck with a promise the existing app would stay. Rather than subsume it as with Atebits, the company planned to keep developing the app "that users know and love." It saw the multi-platform client as a way of giving companies and power users a way to track conversations. TweetDeck founder Iain Dodsworth saw itself as occupying a high-end where the web and the mobile apps covered everyday users.

"The mainstream Twitter user-base is well catered for by twitter.com and the official mobile clients," he said. "And by becoming part of the official platform, TweetDeck will now fill that role for brands, influencers, the highly active and anyone that just needs 'more power.'"

Team members would stay in London and mostly use Twitter's larger resources to refine their app.

Concerns had existed with the merger that Twitter was reducing the diversity in clients with the deal. While still reducing competition from outside the company, the new plan would keep variety intact. Twitter isn't believed to be making further acquisitions in the near future.